1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a belt conveying mechanism for use in conveying a record medium in an ink-jet recording apparatus that conducts recording by ejecting ink onto a record medium, and also to an ink-jet recording apparatus including the belt conveying mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink-jet recording apparatus is an apparatus which causes ink ejected from nozzles formed in heads to adhere to paper to thereby form a desired image on the paper. In such an ink-jet recording apparatus, a belt conveying mechanism is sometimes used as a mechanism for conveying the paper serving as a record medium. In a case where the length occupied by the heads in the conveying direction of the paper is long, a relatively short piece of paper cannot be conveyed with a roller conveying mechanism, which nips and carries the paper between plural roller pairs without using a belt. It is however possible for the belt conveying mechanism to convey such a short piece of paper.
In an ink-jet recording apparatus, when the state where ink is not ejected from the nozzles continues for along period of time, the surfaces of the ink meniscuses dry and poor ink ejection arises. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to periodically conduct so-called flushing in which the ink is forcibly ejected from the nozzles towards a location other than the paper when printing is not being conducted.
In the case of a serial-type ink-jet recording apparatus where the heads reciprocatingly move in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the paper, flushing can be rapidly conducted by moving the heads to a position offset from the paper conveying path when printing is not being conducted. However, in the case of a line-type ink-jet recording apparatus where the heads are fixedly disposed along the direction orthogonal to the paper conveying direction, for example, when the aforementioned belt conveying mechanism is adopted as the paper conveying mechanism, it is necessary to move a member that catches the ink to a position facing the heads after the belt conveying mechanism or the heads has/have been retreated. Therefore, the configuration becomes complicated, and it is difficult to conduct flushing rapidly.
Thus, techniques have been developed that enable rapid flushing in a line-type ink-jet recording apparatus employing a belt conveying mechanism. In an example, an opening is disposed in a portion of the conveyor belt, and a recovery mechanism including an absorber is disposed at a position facing the heads with the conveyor belt sandwiched therebetween. When the opening in the conveyor belt is positioned below the heads, ink is ejected towards the opening and absorbed by the recovery mechanism.
However, in the above-described technique, there is a problem in that the strength of the conveyor belt significantly drops due to the presence of the opening in the conveyor belt. As a result, a desired belt tension cannot be obtained, the paper-conveying function of the conveyor belt drops, and the life of the conveyor belt becomes short.